United were feared throughout Europe and many foreign
coaches believed the only way to beat them over two legs was to frustrate them
at Elland Road. That was certainly the case in an
ill-tempered Semi-Final with Yugoslavian side Hajduk
Split. United traditionally had found they had difficulties in overcoming
Yugoslav opposition, so they faced the meeting with Hajduk
Split knowing that it would be no easy ride. They anticipated and were given a
testing examination of their ability. They came through but only by the
narrowest of margins.

Leeds, having just reached the FA Cup
Final against Sunderland, were
on course for a Cup double. United, however were without Jack Charlton due to
injury, and his normal deputy Paul Madeley was also
unavailable as he had picked up an injury too, and so it was Terry Yorath who filled in, in the unaccustomed role of centre-half.
Split coach, ZebecBranco, sent his side out with strict orders to
defend in depth and they carried out his instructions to the letter with
skipper DraganHolcer
organising the back-line from his role as sweeper.

United found chances hard to create but it needed a superb DraganHolcer tackle to keep out
Peter Lorimer, who also missed an opportunity from
seven yards when Wilson Dzonimiskicked.
The priceless breakthrough came on twenty-one minutes when Allan Clarke
collected the ball from Johnny Giles , drifted past DraganHolcer, into the box, beat
Mario Baljat and clipped a superb left-foot shot
beyond RadomirVuksevic in
the Hadjuk goal. It was Allan Clarke’s twenty-fourth
goal of the season and United’s one hundredth of the
campaign and he thought he had got another a minute later but it was ruled out
for offside.

The goal did not change Split’s
defensive posture and they sought to break the game up at every opportunity.
Several of their players went to ground very easily and feigned injury. It was
a ploy designed to break United’s concentration. It
appeared to work as the crowd’s frustration transmitted itself to the United players while Hadjuk issued
a firm reminder that they too could play football when IvicaHlevnjac’s run set up JuricaJerkovic, whose hard drive was tipped over the bar by
David Harvey.

The war of attrition continued in the second half and United
sent on Joe Jordan after sixty-five minutes in place of Mick Bates to add some
firepower to the attack.Within minutes
the game turned nasty with Mick Jones and Ivan Buljan
cautioned after a clash just outside the penalty area. Tackles were flying in
from all angles and one of their chief targets, Allan Clarke, snapped when he
was hacked down. The Leeds striker retaliated against
Mario Baljat and was ordered off by Hungarian referee
GyulaEmsberger, who said
later, “I sent Clarke off because he kicked a Yugoslav player twice on the
thigh.” The hostilities did not cease there and Leeds
fans roared for Ivan Surjak to be sent off when he
brought down Terry Yorath, but the referee settled
for a booking. Allan Clarke had become the fifth Leeds
player to be sent off in seventy-one European ties and although United were
down to ten men they continued to dictate proceedings but at the final whistle
it was Split that were celebrating. They were confident of overturning United’s slender advantage, particularly as hot-shot Allan Clarke
would be suspended from the second leg.

Allan Clarke commented later. “The Semi-Final paired us with
Hajduk Split and was anything but easy. In the first
leg we knew we had to get a lead for the return, because they were formidable
at home and we needed something to defend. I knocked a goal in during the
second half then got sent off for retaliation. My marker had been kicking hell
out of me all night and a few minutes after my goal he crashed into me again
and took my legs away. I had a rush of blood and kicked him where it hurts.
When I got back into the dressing room, I knew I had let my team-mates and
myself down. In Split we won
through on aggregate, after drawing 0-0, but suffered another blow as a booking
for Billy meant that he would be joining me watching the final.”